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NATIVE SWEDES IN 'THE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY" BY ADOLPH B. BENSON Generally, the names of the great and near-great are in• cluded in biographical reference books, irrespective of in• trinsic merit or character, but more often than not the quali• ties of fame and importance coincide. The monumental Dictionary of American Biography contains accounts of twenty-six men born in Sweden, a tribute to the relatively small country of the north. To give the reader an opportunity to test his knowledge of Swedish contributions to America we shall here first pro• duce the names only, alphabetically, without comment. Here is the list: how many of them can you identify? Israel Acrelius, John Campanius, John Dylander, Au• gust Hjalmar Edgren, John Ericsson, Lars Paul Esbjörn, Count Hans Axel von Fersen, Gustavus Hesselius, Tuve Nilsson Hasselquist, Hans Mattson, John Lind, Conrad Emil Lindberg, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Carl Axel Robert Lundin, Eric Norelius, John Augustus Ockerson, Johan Björnsson Printz, Morris Jacob Raphall, Henry Reuterdahl, Johan Classon Rising, Per Axel Rydberg, Maximilian Scheie De Vere, Lars Gustaf Sellstedt, Bror Thure Thulstrup, Johan August Udden, and Gunnar Mauritz Widforss. Among these Swedish-born contributors to our history, the best known to all Americans, especially those of Swedish descent, is undoubtedly John Ericsson, the inventor and en• gineer of Monitor fame. Next in popular prominence are probably Governor John Lind of Minnesota and Congress• man Charles Augustus Lindbergh, father of the famed avia• tor of the same name. Students of Colonial history will recog• nize Acrelius, Campanius, and Dylander as names of Lu- 77 theran clergymen sent over from Sweden in 1749, 1642, and 1737, respectively, to minister to the spiritual needs of the Swedish colony on the Delaware; and Johan Björnsson Printz was, of course, the noted governor of New Sweden of the seventeenth century. Johan Classon Rising was the successor of Governor Printz, and Gustavus Hesselius, the well-known pioneer American artist of the eighteenth cen• tury. Hans Mattson was, as most Swedish-Americans know, a romantic pioneer soldier organizer and colonel in the Civil War, a journalist, diplomat, and state official of Min• nesota, a very picturesque figure; and Esbjörn, Hasselquist, Lindberg, and Norelius, were early leaders of the Lutheran Augustana Synod. August Hjalmar Edgren was probably the first Swede to obtain a Ph.D. degree in America (at Yale, 1874), and became a recognized poet, translator, teach• er, linguist, and lexicographer. Tolerably well known were Henry Reuterdahl, marine painter and lieutenant-command• er in the U. S. Navy; Johan August Udden, a graduate of Augustana College and eminent scientist, who as professor of geology at the University of Texas first suggested the presence of petroleum deposits on its property, which in turn led to the increase of its wealth by several millions of dollars; Count Hans Axel von Fersen, aristocratic friend of Marie Antoinette and chief aid to Commander Count de Rochambeau of the French Expeditionary Forces of the American Revotionary War; and Per Axel Rydberg, curator of the Bronx Botanical Gardens of New York City. Less renowned generally but a recognized scholar and pioneer in his own field of linguistic scholarship, was Maximilian Scheie [Scheele] De Vere, born in Småland, who, recom• mended by Longfellow, served for over fifty years as pro• fessor of modern languages at the University of Virginia. Little known names in the above list are: Carl Axel Robert Lundin, expert lensmaker for scientific institutions both in America and abroad; John Augustus Ockerson (Åkerson), civil engineer and dominant member of the Mississippi River Commission, which studied problems of river development; Morris Jacob Raphall, rabbi, born in 78 Stockholm, the "first Jew to be invited to open a session of the House of Representatives with prayer" (February 1, 1860); Gustaf Sellstedt, self-taught portrait painter of Buf• falo, New York, who during his life-time had the opportunity to paint portraits of Presidents Fillmore and Cleveland; Bror Thure Thulstrup, prominent American illustrator; and Gunnar Mauritz Widforss, water color artist, whose work is found exhibited in museums on both sides of the Atlantic. Details in all cases will, naturally, bo found in biographies of the Dictionary. Most singular <of all per• haps is the life of the Jewish rabbi who came originally from Sweden to win, a,s so many others, fame and position in America He was also a noted author of, in sonic cases, controversial books. Readers will be interested to note in our list seven Lu• theran clergymen; seven men in government service, in• cluding one rabbi, five artists, one with the rank of lieu• tenant-commander in the U. S. Navy; four scholars; two engineers; and one high-class scientific craftsman. No wom• en are included, The list of Swedes in the DAB is a good one; it has been compiled with study and thought. Nevertheless, there at least one inclusion and a few gaps which give the student of Swedish-American history cause for reflection. The pres• ent writer, for instance, would for the name of John Dylan• der .substitute that of the Reverend Dr. Carl Magnus Wran• gel, "who served the Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia from 1759 to 1769" and who worked out a school program for the parish. He was an unusually liberal minded min• ister of the Gospel who under extremely difficult circum• stances co-operated with the clergymen of other churches and denominations and did excellent work. His labor among criminals was outstanding, And to -he list of Lutheran clergymen should be added that of Nicholas Collin, the last of those sent to America by the Swedish government. He remained ia the United States for sixty years until his death in 1831, was interested in both science and religion, was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and a member of the Amer- 79 ican Philosophical Society. A Swedish Methodist minister who also should be included is the Reverend Olof Gustaf Hedström, who a hundred years ago did fruitful, pioneer work as missionary for the Scandinavian sailors and immi• grants passing through the port of New York, "using as a chapel and rescue mission a demasted schooner, called the Bethel Ship, which was tied to a pier near the Battery in lower Manhattan."1 It was an unique religious and charitable venture of singular consequence that should not have been omitted. Examining our list again, we discover that some of the chosen Swedish-born members returned to Sweden after their work in America was finished. We need mention only Count Axel von Fersen and Governors Printz and Rising. That being the case, why should not Brigadier-General Charles John Stolbrand of the Civil War be included? He was born in Sweden, probably did as much if not more for America than Colonel von Fersen, and remained in America. But he was not so glamorous as his famous pred• ecessor; and another reason is probably that there were so many officers in the Civil War that most of those below the rank of full general had to be excluded. Besides, only men of exceptional distinction could be included, and in the total field of U. S. history General Stolbrand was less known than Count von Fersen. A similar situation prevails in the case of Baron Curt von Stedingk, who might, conceivably, have been included. He commanded a division of our forces at the siege of Savannah, 1779, was so severely wounded that he had to return to Europe, and yet lived not only long enough to sign the Peace Treaty with France of 1814, as a Swedish subject, but outlived most participants in the American Revolution. He died at the age of ninety (1837) as Swedish field marshal. While at the end of the War of Independence, he received, as did von Fersen, an election to the American Society of the Cincinnati, his name and accomplishments were soon 1 See Benson and Hedin, Americans from Sweden, p. 92. 80 forgotten in the United States, despite the fact that he re• fused to obey his King's order to resign from the Society, since it represented, in the monarch's opinion, a country that was much too democratic. Von Stedingk was very proud of his American distinction. Again, since inclusion in the DAB indicated contributions rather than permanent American residence or citizenship, why should not Peter Kalm have been selected. Kalm, two hundred years ago, spent three years in the American colonies, studying our plants and general civilization, and in the end wrote three scientific volumes of Travels to and in the Colonies. Our mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, is named for him. And how about Jenny Lind? She was both a singer and a philanthropist. It was she who made America conscious of its ability to enjoy good music. Again, why not an article about Christina Nilsson, who made concert tours in the United States before she became the first prima donna (1883) at the Metropolitan Opera House? And there was the Finnish-born but Swedish novelist Fredrika Bremer, who a hundred years ago visited every one in the United States from the jailer at The Tombs in New York to the President of the U. S. and whose Homes of the New World became a best seller in America, a work of some 1300 pages that recorded with sympathy the best about the young re• public and became a reliable, readily accepted source-book for subsequent historians. She became in Europe perhaps the best advertiser of America that it had ever had. Might she not have deserved 1400 words in the DAB like so many others? But on the whole, as we have admitted, the original list is good, and judgments differ.

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